Breast Cancer Group Recommends Return Of Funds, in Attempt To Limit its Focus

Breast Cancer Group Recommends Return Of Funds, in Attempt To Limit its Focus

WASHINGTON--In an extraordinary decision, the steering committee
of the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer (NAPBC) voted to
reject nearly the entire $14.75 million that Congress provided
it for use in fiscal year 1997.

The group decided that some $4.3 million left over from fiscal
1996 was nearly enough to cover its operations for the current
fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 1996. Therefore, the steering
committee chose in a 13 to 0 vote (with 4 abstentions) to retain
only $750,000 of its appropriated funds and asked that the remaining
$14 million go to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support
research on breast cancer.

Four committee members abstained from voting, including cochair
Susan J. Blumenthal, MD, MPA, a deputy assistant secretary for
health at HHS, and three committee members from the NCI.

The vote indicated the strong desire of a large majority of the
steering committee to keep the plan focused on a limited number
of areas. The vote now goes as a recommendation to the HHS secretary,
who will decide whether to shift the money to NCI or use it elsewhere.

"The idea of the NAPBC was to jump-start areas of breast
cancer research that were not receiving enough attention,"
Frances M. Visco, JD, president, National Breast Cancer Coalition,
and co-chair of the NAPBC, told Oncology News International after
the vote. "We don't need to be out there doing everything."

Different Visions

The committee also voted to ask the HHS secretary to reaffirm
support for the NAPBC operating plan, as formulated by the steering
committee. As with the vote to reject the government funds, this
vote stemmed from a long-standing clash of visions over the group's
scope of activities--whether it should expand, as is consistent
with the strategy of the plan, "to coordinate actions . .
. to advance knowledge, research, policy, and services,"
or remain focused on a few specific breast cancer issues, as many
of the scientists from the NIH and the non-government breast cancer
advocates on the panel desire.